


Put Your Hand In Mine

by robindrake93



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Boys In Love, Doctor Will Solace, Future Fic, Hurt Nico di Angelo, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mild Gore, One Shot, POV Third Person, Past Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Past Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Percy Jackson is a good boyfriend, Physical Disability, monster fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:07:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27502771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robindrake93/pseuds/robindrake93
Summary: Percy and Nico fight a new monster whose blood turns out to be toxic.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 84





	Put Your Hand In Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Me: I wonder how long this has been sitting in my docs.  
> Created: Nov 21, 2019  
> Me: Oh. 
> 
> If you don't like the font color, click "Hide Creator's Style" at the top and it'll revert to black.
> 
> Don't reupload/repost my fics.

  
Sometimes being a demigod got in the way of more important things. The Gods truly thought that their little fetch tasks were far more important than anything their demigod children might be up to. Percy would never admit this out loud - lest Zeus burn him to a crisp - but the older he got, the more easily he could see things from Luke’s point of view. Not that Luke had a good solution for the whole The Gods Suck problem but his feelings were valid. Like right this second for instance. 

Percy was out on a fetch mission with his long-time boyfriend, Nico. Being two extremely powerful demigods, there shouldn’t have been any problem fighting any monster. Except that this monster didn’t look like the ones from Ancient Greece. Someone had made a new monster. And when Percy found out who it was; oh they were going to get it. Being twenty-six meant that Percy had been in a fight or five with various Gods and he’d come out on top every time. Because if he _hadn’t_ come out on top then he would be dead. What Percy took away from this was that if Percy could hurt a God, then he could probably find a way to kill one. 

Like most Greek monsters, this new one was a mashup of various animals and boy was it ugly. It had the piggy face of a boar, complete with gnarled tusks so large that it couldn’t close its mouth all the way. The body was bo-legged, barrel-chested, and covered in thick black fur. It walked on its hind legs most of the time but Percy had seen it drop down onto its hands too, like some sort of ape. It’s tail was furry but segmented into sections like a scorpion and held a huge stinger on the tip. And the smell coming off this thing? Like months old garbage, cigars, and rotting meat. It was foul. But that wasn’t the worst part. The absolute worst part of the whole monster were the huge red testicles hanging between its legs. They were so big! And so out in the open! The redness and the disproportionately huge size really drew the eye downwards. 

Percy had seen the monster and laughed involuntarily. “Oh my Gods,” he said. 

Nico actually face-palmed. “Why?” He asked whoever may have been listening in at the time. They didn’t get an answer because as mentioned before, The Gods Suck. “Let's just get this over with.” 

The monster may have been a new one, but the demigods still had the advantage. Percy and Nico were the ones with all of the experience. Percy had been killing monsters since he was an infant. Nico had been trained by the best fighters in all of history. Together, they made quick work of it. 

Nico thrust his sword into the monster’s chest. It slid in smooth as butter. In a split second, Nico’s hand was engulfed in the open wound he’d just created. 

The monster screamed. 

Percy thought he heard an echoing scream but it was hard to hear anything over the awful sound the monster made. He took aim at the monster’s beady red eye and thrust his sword. Riptide destroyed the eye and slid home into the monster’s brain. 

The monster disappeared in a cloud of golden dust. Its testicles dropped onto the ground. 

“Ew.” Percy made a face. “No thank you on that trophy.” A split second later, Percy realized that someone was still screaming. He turned to Nico.

Nico’s sword was on the ground. He knelt beside it, rocked back and forth. His face was screwed up in pain. 

“Nico!” Percy slid onto his knees beside his boyfriend. “Where are you hurt?” He hadn’t seen the monster get in a strike at either of them. 

There were shadows around Nico’s right hand, a darkness that was unnatural in the bright New York sunlight. “I can’t heal myself,” Nico said through gritted teeth. He cleared the shadows away and they both saw that the flesh of Nico’s fingertips had been eaten down to the bone. There was a strange purple goop coating Nico’s fingers and it seemed to be moving.

Percy had never seen anything like it in his ten plus years of being a demigod. He focused on the ground beneath them, felt water moving through the pipes. Pulling the water from the pipes was as easy as breathing for him. Percy directed the water to surround Nico’s hand and focused on healing thoughts. After a few minutes, Percy was forced to admit that it had done absolutely nothing. “We need to get you to Chiron.” 

Nico nodded. “Gods, I can feel it eating me.” He stood up but swayed on his feet. 

Percy slipped an arm beneath Nico’s shoulder and hauled him up. He was lucky that Nico still weighed ninety pounds even at twenty-four years old. “It’ll be okay,” Percy said with a confidence he didn’t feel. “We’ll get you back to Camp and they’ll be able to heal you.” 

Except that Camp Half Blood was two hours away via boat, which was the only mode of transportation they had. Neither of them had cell phones so it wasn’t like they could call an Uber to drive them and Percy wasn’t about to risk Nico’s life in the Gray Sisters’ Taxi. “Can you get us to the Camp from here?” 

“I can get us to the boat.” Nico said. The purple goop on his fingers was slowly working its way to the second knuckle. “Hang on.” 

It felt like Percy’s face was being peeled off. No matter how many times he experienced shadow-travel, Percy never got used to it. He blinked to clear his head, wiped his face with his arm a few times to make sure his skin was still attached, and then got Nico into the boat. Percy tried to make Nico as comfortable as possible but Nico was literally being eaten alive so there wasn’t much Percy could do. His main priority at the moment was speed. This was not going to be the leisurely boat ride they’d taken before. He urged the sea to move them faster, faster. They went so fast that shore was a blur. “When we get there, can you shadow travel us to the Apollo cabin?” 

Nico’s eyes were closed, his head lulled back. His skeleton showed through his translucent skin. He’d passed out _and_ his physical form was more unstable than ever. In this case, losing his physical form may not have been a bad thing. 

Percy shook him awake and repeated the question. 

After a moment longer of silence, Nico said, “Do I have to?”

Percy looked Nico in the eye. “You can’t avoid Will forever, Nico.” He glanced down at Nico’s injured hand. The purple goop was now at Nico’s forearm and was steadily eating away at the flesh. It only left behind bone. “Apollo is the God of medicine. His children will know how to help you.” Between Will and Chiron, there was very little that couldn’t be fixed. 

Nico caught Percy’s eye again. His pupils were narrow pinpricks from the pain and the exhaustion of shadow traveling. He looked scared. “I don’t know if I’ll have the energy.” There was more to it than that. Nico had to shadow travel sparingly, otherwise he would _become_ a shadow. 

There was nothing else they could do except hope that they would get back to Camp before too much damage had been done. Percy let Nico pass out again and looked out over the water. Whoever made that monster was going to suffer dearly for it if Nico didn’t get better. This wasn’t at all how Percy had envisioned the day going when he woke up that morning. It felt like forever before they arrived at the shore to Camp Half Blood. Percy pulled Nico’s good arm over his shoulder without even bothering to wake him up. He slid an arm around Nico’s waist and hauled him to his feet. “Nico, baby, you okay?” 

Nico groaned and rolled his head against Percy’s neck. His right arm was bone up to the elbow. “Percy, I’m gonna…” Nico pulled away and dropped to his knees. He retched on the shore of the sea but there was nothing in his stomach to come out except for acid. It dripped from his lower lip. 

Percy knelt beside Nico. He ripped off a piece of his own t-shirt sleeve and used it to wipe Nico’s mouth clean. His eyes went to the purple goop. It was evil stuff, whatever it was. “We gotta move, Nico.”

Nico nodded. With Percy’s help, he struggled to his feet. 

It was still more dragging Nico than helping him walk. Percy got them there as quickly as possible but the distance felt like it was expanding. As soon as Percy saw the first cabin, he began yelling. “Someone get Solace and Chiron! Nico’s hurt!” 

Piper ran up to them. She made to take Nico’s other side. 

“No! Don’t touch him!” Percy pulled Nico closer to him. “There’s something...it’s eating his skin.” 

Piper gasped. Her eyes widened. Then she turned tail and ran. Piper sprinted for the Apollo cabin. She wasn’t as fast as a child of Hermes but she could be quick when she wanted to. 

Percy kept walking. Other campers tried to help but he repeated, “Don’t touch him. Don’t touch him.” He noted with some relief that a few of the campers were running for the Big House.

By the time they made it to the golden Apollo cabin, Will had the door thrown open. He took one look at Nico’s arm and his face paled. He ran back inside. “Bring him in! Hurry!” He gestured to an empty bed with a sheet spread on it. 

The other children of Apollo were gathered around the room, hovering in case they could be of some use. None were as proficient at medical care as Will was, but they knew basic first aid. Nico would need more than that. 

Percy eased Nico onto the bed and sat down on Nico’s good side. “We were fighting a new monster. Something that looked like an ape and a scorpion combined. Nico stabbed it and his hand...I think it’s the monster’s blood?” 

Nico rested his head on Percy’s shoulder. He kept nodding off. He very carefully kept his injured arm from touching any other part of his body. 

Will examined Nico’s arm without touching it. He chanted in Ancient Greek under his breath and watched carefully. His brow furrowed when nothing happened. Will jerked his head around, snatched a square of ambrosia from Kayla and shoved it at Nico. “Eat the whole thing.” 

Nico didn’t normally eat a lot but he took the ambrosia cake and all but shoved the whole thing into his mouth. He got it down in a few swallows then let his head fall back onto Percy. “Don’t think it’ll work. Me n’ Perc couldn’t heal it.” His words were slurred with pain.

They waited for a tense five minutes before Will snapped his fingers at his siblings. “Get me two shots of nectar.” 

Austin ran for the supply cupboard at the back of the cabin. 

Percy raised an eyebrow but he wasn’t about to question Will’s judgement on this. Nico and Will didn’t exactly have a clean breakup but Will wasn’t the type to take that out on Nico by hurting or not healing him. “It started at his fingertips,” Percy said in an attempt to remember something that might be useful. 

Will hummed. “What kind of monster was it?” 

Percy shook his head. “Something new.” 

Austin returned with two shot glasses full of nectar.

The furrow in Will’s brow deepened. He was going to get wrinkles at this point. “And you didn’t get any...blood on you?” He handed Nico one of the shots. 

“No,” Percy answered. 

Nico drank it in one swallow. He dropped the small glass onto the floor, where it thunked but didn’t break. 

Will handed over the other one. He looked at his watch then back at Nico. “On the Di Angelo pain scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?”

Nico hesitated. “Eight.”

“The Di Angelo pain scale?” Percy repeated. 

“Nico has an unusually high pain tolerance. For the rest of us, that would probably be eighteen out of ten.” Will barely glanced at Percy while answering. He only had eyes for Nico. “So you’ve had worse?”

Nico scowled. “Eight and a half and I’m not going higher.” 

Will sighed. He looked at his watch again. 

Percy pursed his lips together. He tried not to feel jealous that Nico and Will had a different pain chart that they’d had to have made together. It was a strange thing to be jealous of. He tightened his hold on Nico’s hip. “It isn’t stopping,” Percy said as the bones of Nico’s elbow were exposed. 

The purple goop was bigger now, more vibrant, and it seemed to be moving faster too. 

Will was definitely going to get wrinkles with how deeply he was frowning. “No, it isn’t.” He stood up. “Just a moment.” As he moved towards the back of the cabin, his siblings scattered. 

Percy put a hand to Nico’s forehead. He felt feverish, which could have been the ambrosía and nectar or it could have been from something eating the flesh from his bones. “Still with me, Nico?”

Nico grunted in response. He sagged his full weight against Percy. 

Percy watched Will pace and talk to someone that he couldn’t see. If Percy had to guess, he was speaking to his dad. 

The door opened again, this time by Chiron and Annabeth. “We came as soon as we heard,” Chiron said. His tail swished in agitation. 

Percy’s heart clenched at the sight of Annabeth. He turned his face so that he could hide in Nico’s shaggy black hair. He wasn’t a coward but he did not want to face Annabeth. However, Percy couldn’t hide forever. He needed to explain what happened. So keeping his eyes on Chiron, Percy gave them the rundown on what happened. “And nothing that we’ve tried is slowing or stopping the, uh, process.” 

Will came back, a grim expression on his face. “I have bad news and worse news.” 

“Out with it, Solace,” Nico growled. He’d been quiet during the explanation.

Will took a deep breath. He put his hands together. “The bad news is that any flesh that purple blood touches will be eaten. It gets bigger the more it eats. And it can’t be removed until there’s no more flesh for it to eat.” 

Something growled and it took Percy a long moment - and a lot of looks - before he realized that _he_ was the one who had made the noise. “So what do we do?” 

Will didn’t meet anyone’s eye. 

Annabeth huffed. “We’ve got to come up with a plan.” 

“We will,” Chiron promised. His voice sounded grim.

Nico shifted and looked down at his arm. The purple goop was inching up his bicep. He sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “I’ve got an...idea.” 

Everyone looked at him. 

"We’re going to need a sharp knife and a steady hand,” Nico said.

Will’s gaze snapped to Nico. “I've got both of those.” 

Nico nodded. He didn’t seem surprised. “Make sure it’s sharp, Solace.” While Will busied himself with getting the knife, Nico turned his face into Percy’s neck. His cold lips brushed against Percy’s pulse. “You should go.” 

Percy wasn’t stupid but he was lost now. He rubbed his chin against Nico’s head. “I’m not leaving you.” 

“You need to go,” Nico insisted. 

Annabeth put a hand on Percy’s shoulder. “We should let Will work, Percy. Nico is in good hands.” 

Percy didn’t get why they wanted him to leave. His first instinct was to cling tighter to Nico. But this was an emergency and Nico’s life was on the line. He slowly released Nico and helped him lay down on the bed. “I’ll be just outside, okay. Yell if you need me.”

Nico grimaced as he was moved. He looked into Percy’s eyes. “There will be yelling...but you can’t come in until we’re done. Promise me.” 

Percy hesitated. He looked around and then back at Nico. He nodded. Then he let Annabeth pull him away and out of the cabin. 

Chiron closed the door behind them but not before Percy heard Will ask Nico, “Are you sure you want to do this?” 

“Just hurry up,” Nico said. 

Annabeth did not let Percy linger outside of the cabin. She hauled him away from the Apollo cabin by his arm and didn’t stop until they were halfway to the strawberry fields. 

A scream came from behind them. 

Percy yanked his arm free and whipped around. “That was Nico.” He started walking back to the Apollo cabin, hand reaching for Riptide. 

Annabeth grabbed him again. “Percy, you can’t go in there!” She dug her heels into the dirt. “Nico is going to be fine.” 

Percy stopped walking but he couldn’t tear his gaze from the cabin. He flinched when Nico screamed again. “What are they doing to him?” 

Annabeth didn’t let go of Percy, though she did loosen her grip when he didn’t run for the cabin. “They’re cutting off his skin above where the purple...thing was so that it has nothing to feed on and hopefully drops off.” 

Percy ran that thought over in his head. It made him nauseous to think about. His body jerked in an aborted motion to go back to Nico’s side. “But his muscle and veins and things?” 

“Yes. That will have to be scraped away as well.” Annabeth tugged on Percy’s arm, a gentle action. 

Percy’s legs felt like jelly. He was fairly certain he was going to throw up. Every instinct in him told him to run for Nico, to protect him from the pain. But what could he do? He’d tried to heal Nico and his water had zero effect on the purple goop. They couldn’t even wash it off because it was just stuck. 

“Let’s go pick some strawberries, Percy. It’ll take your mind off it.” Annabeth tugged on him again. 

This time, Percy let her lead him away. He walked without paying attention to what he was doing. His mind was on Nico and the pain he had to be enduring right now. Even if what Will said about Nico’s pain tolerance was true, that just meant that he handled pain better, not that he didn’t experience it at all. Which brought up Will. Will wasn’t a sadist and it had to be difficult to cut into his ex boyfriend like that. Part of Percy hoped that Chiron was the one who was doing the cutting and scraping. 

Once they reached the fields, Annabeth thrust a basket into Percy’s hands. She took the lead and started talking about...something. 

Percy wasn’t listening. He went through the motions of picking ripe strawberries but his mind was back in the Apollo cabin. Percy was not at all surprised when it began raining. The rain came out of nowhere and it had them both soaked in minutes. They wadded through the mud that stuck at their sneakers and continued to pick strawberries despite the cold and the wet. 

Annabeth had given up talking because the rain was so loud and the thunder was an almost-continuous growl. She kept giving Percy looks like she expected him to crack under the pressure of what was happening to Nico. 

They filled both baskets and washed the berries in the hose, though that seemed a bit redundant considering that everything was soaked. It was just part of the process, though. They washed the strawberries and then took them into a small shed where Mr. D stored them until they were ready to be sold. The shed was humid and secluded. If Percy and Annabeth were still together, this would be a place to make out and shed clothes. But they weren’t and Percy’s mind was on Nico more than sex with his ex-girlfriend. 

Percy looked out the small window. He could only barely make out the shapes of the cabins. “Do you think they’re done?” 

Annabeth shook her head. “They’ll send someone when they are.” She wrung out her long blond hair. Water splattered to the floor. “Tell me more about this new kind of monster.”

Percy welcomed the distraction. If he told Annabeth about the monster then he could at least feel somewhat useful. So he told her everything that he could remember about it. He looked down at his hands. “I didn’t realize it, but the monster’s blood disintegrated off of Riptide.” Percy hugged himself. He could really use a hug from someone else but the only other person was Annabeth and just because they were broken up, didn’t mean that Percy thought she was less attractive. He didn’t trust himself right now because he and Annabeth always got along better in a crisis. 

Annabeth theorized while Percy listened with only half an ear. She talked about gods and enemies, about poisons and bacteria. 

Percy leaned against the wooden work bench and tried to pretend like he was listening. He made the appropriate noises at the appropriate times. But his mind was firmly on Nico. This whole thing was Percy’s fault. Percy once again failed to protect Nico. He let Nico down again. And now, what would happen to Nico’s arm? Would the flesh grow back? Would they have to completely amputate? 

Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder. “Percy, if anyone is going to make it through this, it’ll be Nico. He’s resilient.” 

Percy looked at her and could just feel the kicked puppy expression on his face. “He’s been through so much already. It isn’t fair that he has to go through more.” To his horror, tears welled up in his eyes. Percy hid his face in his hands. Annabeth had seen him cry before but that didn’t mean Percy was happy about his tears. 

Annabeth pulled Percy into the hug that he so desperately wanted. She rubbed circles on his back. “I know it isn’t fair.” She didn’t try to placate him with false promises of everything being better or berate him with the old _life isn’t fair, get over it_ line like Gabe used to do. “But Nico is strong. Whatever happens to him, he’ll pull through this. And he isn’t going to blame you. This isn’t your fault, Percy. Neither of you knew.” 

Percy cried into her shoulder. He kept his arms tucked between them but he let her hold him. It was stupid of him to cry over this when it was Nico who was going through it. He was just scared and, yes, he felt guilty. Percy had seen so many people die and it was exhausting. Every death wore away at him a little more and Percy honestly didn’t understand how Nico could surround himself with it. Nico was the only death-related thing that Percy could handle but even though Nico was strong and Nico always looked like he had one foot in the grave, he was still mortal. Nico could still die. And that was _terrifying._

The shed door opened. “There you are!” Connor Stoll grinned at the two of them. He had an umbrella and didn’t bother to close it. “Nico stopped screaming and Will said you guys can come back.” This was mostly directed at Annabeth as Percy still had his face hidden in her blonde hair. 

“Thanks, Connor,” Annabeth spoke for the both of them.

Connor left with his umbrella. He left the door open behind him.

A cold breeze blew into the shed. Percy straightened up and wiped his eyes. “Sorry for crying on you.” He moved past Annabeth and led the way through the fields to the cabins. 

Annabeth kept pace with Percy’s longer strides. She didn’t try to touch him again. Their moment was over. They ignored the rain still coming down. 

True to Connor’s word, Nico was no longer screaming. Percy wasn’t sure that that was a good thing. They didn’t encounter anyone on the walk to Apollo’s cabin but there were faces peeking out of windows at them. 

The Apollo kids were all in their bunks except for Will, who sat on the floor beside the bunk that Nico lay on. Will stared at the floor and he looked genuinely haunted. His hands were covered in blood. There was a golden bowl beside him that Percy realized contained bloody strips of flesh. Will barely looked up when they came in. He was too busy staring at some middle distance. 

Chiron lay beside Will, his equine legs tucked beneath him and a comforting hand on Will’s shoulder. He actually met their eyes when they walked in. “Mr. Di Angelo is asleep but we’ve done everything we can for him. He’ll survive and the, er, flesh eating substance has disintegrated.” 

Percy didn’t think he was the type to shove a doctor out of the way to get to his loved one but, well, Percy nearly bowled Will over in his haste to get to Nico. He practically threw himself onto the bunk, hovered over Nico. 

They did not amputate Nico’s right arm. It was still attached. Technically. The flesh ended high on Nico’s bicep and although the wound was scarred over, Nico’s arm didn’t end there. Sticking out of the healed flesh were the bones of Nico’s right arm. He lay with both hands - flesh and bone - resting on his stomach. 

“Oh!” Annabeth said when she saw what Nico’s arm had become. 

Percy stared at it for several long moments. It was strange to see something like that. Would Nico even be able to use it? They must have had a good reason for keeping the bones attached. “Can you grow his skin back?” 

“Unfortunately not,” Chiron answered. 

Will was still staring at the floor. 

Annabeth knelt down next to him. 

This was okay. It was going to be okay. Everything was fine. This was fine. Percy ran a finger along the small bones that made up the back of Nico’s hand. “Can he feel anything with this arm?” 

Chiron answered again, “We aren’t sure. Mr. Di Angelo didn’t seem to think that there would be a problem with keeping the bones attached.” 

If Nico was that sure, then Percy had no reason to doubt it. He put one hand to Nico’s forehead. Still a little warm to the touch. On a normal camper, Percy wouldn’t be worried. But Nico always felt cold so the fact that he didn’t anymore was worrisome. “Does he have to stay here?” 

Annabeth had managed to convince Will to go wash his hands. They disappeared out into the rain. 

“Mr. Solace would like to keep him here for the night to make sure there aren’t any complications,” Chiron answered for the absent healer. He picked up the bowl of Nico’s flesh and slowly rose to his feet. “I’ll dispose of this and let everyone know that Nico will survive.” 

Percy sat back on his haunches. He shook but he wasn’t sure if it was from cold or shock or both. 

Kayla was the first one to get out of their bunk and approach Percy. She touched him like one would touch a skittish animal. “Percy, you’re soaked. Maybe you should change clothes.” 

Percy looked down at himself. He’d forgotten to move the water so that he didn’t get wet. Now he focused on pulling it from his clothes and hair. It formed large clumps that slid onto the floor. Percy did the same for Nico and the bedding he’d gotten wet too. Then, deciding he couldn’t just leave the floor wet, Percy forced the water to slide across the floor and underneath the crack in the door. “I’m fine. Thanks, Kayla.”

Kayla bit her lip and looked towards the door. “You’re welcome to stay here tonight, Percy.” As though any one of them had a hope to convince Percy to leave Nico’s side for a second time. “We’ll set up a partition for you.” Kayla and Austin got on that, striping the sheet from another bed and hanging it up to give Nico and Percy some privacy. It was a nice thing to do; especially since Percy didn’t want to get into a glaring match with Will in the middle of the night. 

The sheet immediately gave off an intimate feeling of being cut off from everyone else. In the dark, small space Percy felt safe at last. Like he could finally breathe after holding his breath the past few hours. He settled on Nico’s left side, between Nico and the wall, and gently kissed Nico’s cheek. Percy thought that given the circumstances he wouldn’t find sleep - let alone deep sleep - but ten minutes after the partition came up, Percy closed his eyes and fell asleep. 

Nico had woken up in the Apollo cabin enough in the past that he wasn’t disoriented by his surroundings. He had woken up enough with Percy by his side that the weight of him wasn’t a surprise. But Nico had never woken up to find that his right arm didn’t want to move. He blinked blearily at it and part of his brain went _‘oh yeah. That happened.’_

There was only bone from Nico’s fingertips to his mid-bicep. The flesh was completely gone. Nico focused on his power and the boney fingers moved. He couldn’t feel anything but he didn’t need to. Not really. There were other people who went through their lives without limbs and it worked out fine for them. All Nico needed to do was start training with the new...restriction. Nico lay in bed and focused on making a fist. His bones made noise when he moved them, which was something else he would have to get used to. 

Beside him, Percy moved and let out a small groan. He blinked himself awake, rubbed at his eyes. Percy’s face turned to Nico and he kissed Nico’s jaw. “Good morning.” 

Nico nuzzled Percy’s head. “Morning.”

“How’s your arm?”

Nico raised his bone arm and wiggled his fingers at Percy. “Functional.”

Percy stared at the arm. “My brain is telling me that’s not possible but nothing we do is ‘possible’ by normal standards.” 

“We’re the sons of the Big Three. Our powers are exceptional compared to other demigods too.” Nico worried about how Percy would take to Nico’s striped arm. Percy’s tastes tended to run on the normal side of the spectrum. Nico was well aware that he was the only one of Percy’s love interests that looked like, well, how he looked. Like a walking corpse. 

Percy reached out and threaded his fingers between Nico’s bones. “At least I can still hold your hand.” 

Nico’s love for Percy swelled in his chest and threatened to pop it like a balloon. He squeezed Percy’s hand as gently as he could. With his other hand, he gripped Percy’s chin and pulled him in for a rough kiss. 

When they broke apart, Percy had a dopey smile on his face. He shifted closer to Nico, so that his erection pressed against Nico’s thigh. “You wanna get outta here?” His voice was low with want. 

Nico was helpless to it. He just experienced a trauma but damn if his boyfriend didn’t turn him on. 

Before Nico could tell him yes yes yes, the makeshift partition was pulled back. Will stood there looking annoyed. “Oh no, you don’t. Nico, I swear to the gods that if you shadow-travel, I will hunt you down and tie you to the bed.”

Percy let out a rumbling growl. Gods, that was sexy. And it was something he only did for Nico, as far as Nico could tell. 

Nico just glared up at Will. 

Will turned his gaze from Nico to Percy. “And you,” Will’s voice held all his dislike of Percy. “You shouldn’t be encouraging him to go anywhere without being examined first. He’s just gone through a major trauma so if you could stop thinking with your dick for more than five minutes, that’d be helpful.” 

Percy didn’t let go of Nico but he also didn’t argue. 

Will pointedly looked at their joined hands. “Are you using your powers to control the arm or is Percy holding it up?” 

Nico extracted his fingers from Percy's. He lowered all of his fingers except the middle one. 

Will didn’t look amused. “Cute.” He ripped the partition down and tossed it away. “Get up. We’re going to do some tests on that arm.” He walked back to his side of the cabin and slung his bow over his shoulder. 

Nico kissed Percy’s forehead before untangling himself. “Go get something to eat. I’ll see you later.” He got up and stretched. It was strange that he didn’t have to stretch his right arm anymore. He couldn’t even feel it. Nico followed Will outside. 

It was raining and misty outside. The temperature was ten degrees cooler outside of the cabin. When Nico stepped outside, frost bloomed beneath his feet. His first few exhales were visible puffs of warm air but as he cooled off, his breath stopped being visible. 

“Are you still running a fever?” Will asked as he headed towards the training grounds. He didn’t seem to mind the rain, which probably had something to do with his stubbornness. 

Nico shrugged. He put his flesh hand to his forehead. His hair was already wet. “I don’t feel like I’m going to burst into flames anymore.” He thought that he heard Will mutter something that sounded like _‘we’ll see about that.’_ Which, okay, fair. Nico wasn’t exactly Will’s favorite person anymore. 

They went to the archery field, which wasn’t much of a surprise. Before paying any attention to Nico, Will warmed up. He hit the center target every single time. Will only stopped when he ran out of arrows. Then he turned to Nico and silently handed over his bow. 

Nico took it. This was not the first time he’d held it and he was always impressed by the quality. Archery wasn’t even Will’s speciality and he was so good at it. 

Will pulled his arrows out of the target and returned to Nico. “I know archery isn’t your thing but I want to see how you do now compared to where you were at before...this.” Will gestured to Nico’s bone arm. 

The archer’s stance wasn’t something that Nico slid into as easily as he did a sword stance. Despite Will dragging him to the archery field to practice together, Nico was never better than _sort of okay._ He tried to remember everything Will had taught him while they were together. The good news was that his arrow hit the target. It was the outer ring but it still hit. Nico didn’t have to look at Will to see the pain etched across his face. The Apollo kids were just _like that._ Nico tried again. 

His arrow landed in the dirt in front of the target. The third arrow skimmed the target but ultimately got lodged in a tree behind it. Nico took a deep breath. He had fought armies single-handedly. He’d gone through Tartarus alone. Nico was the son of Hades, the ambassador of Pluto. He had ripped the title Ghost King from King Midas himself. He could hit the target with an arrow and focus on moving his arm the proper way and keeping his bones from falling apart. Right. 

The fourth arrow stuck solidly in the third ring. So did the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth. Nico looked over at Will.

Will smiled back at him. “Good job. Let’s get some breakfast.” They stopped by the Apollo cabin so that Will could drop off his bow, then headed to the dining pavilion. Will loaded up his plate and headed to the bonfire to scrape some off for the gods. 

Nico took two strawberries. He threw one into the fire then popped the other one into his mouth. It tasted sweet on his tongue. His stomach was immediately full. They sat down at the Apollo table despite it being against the rules to sit at tables that weren’t their own. Nico didn’t see Percy at the Poseidon table. 

Between shoveling food into his mouth, Will handed Nico an egg. 

Nico took it with his left hand. He looked from the egg to Will. 

“Other hand, Nico.” Will rolled his eyes. He watched in silence as Nico transferred the egg from his left to his right hand. 

The egg was tricky to hold onto. It was slippery. Nico applied just the slightest bit more pressure. Except he must have added more than he thought because the next thing he knew, there was raw egg dripping onto his thighs and down his bones. Nico made a face. 

Will hummed in thought. He handed Nico another egg off his plate. “Try again.” 

Nico wiped his bone hand clean on his jeans. He took the second egg. It slipped out of his hand and onto the ground, where it broke. 

Will gave Nico a third egg.

Nico held onto it for fifteen seconds before he crushed that one too. “Are we just going to break eggs?” 

“The idea is to not break them,” Will said mildly. 

“I know what the idea is, Will,” Nico snapped. He reached over and picked the fourth egg off Will’s plate with his skeletal hand. It cracked before he got it to his side of the table. “Fuck.” 

Will made a face as raw egg dripped onto his bread. “Fuck,” he agreed. He carefully moved his bread off his plate before the egg dripped onto the rest of his food. 

Nico huffed. “I don’t get it. I was able to hold Percy’s hand without hurting him.” He watched himself make wild gestures with both hands. At least he could still move his arm but he wanted it to be more functional than that. Which was why he told Will to _keep_ the bones. 

Will snorted. “Percy’s hand is a lot stronger than an egg. But speaking of holding other people’s body parts, you should probably restrict it to just hand holding with that one.” Will shoved a slice of apple into his mouth. “Until you’ve got better control over it.”

Will’s plate no longer held any eggs on it - optimistic of him - so Nico could only drum his finger bones on the table. He liked the sound it made. There was something to be said for skeletons and music. “Anything else you wanna do before letting me go?” Nico didn’t mean for it to come out that way. 

Will’s eyes darkened. He licked his lips. Then the hunger drained from his gaze. “One more thing for today then I’ll let you go on the promise that you do some physical therapy. And I _will_ tell Percy about it so that you actually do it.” 

Nico, twenty-four years old and mature like he was, stuck his tongue out at Will. “I promise I’ll be good.” 

Will finished his breakfast. He led the way back to the training grounds, stopping only to pick up two generic swords. One of them was handed off to Nico. They found a clear spot to practice and Will faced him, hefted the sword. It looked awkward in his hands; even though Nico had tried to train Will in sword fighting. “Try to beat me. No powers, no switching hands, and no Stygian Iron.” 

Nico adjusted his grip on the plain iron sword in his bone hand. He had no idea how much pressure he was putting on the handle. When it came to using his powers on bones, he’d never had to be so specific. Nico slid into the fighting stance that was second nature to him. He held the sword awkwardly but he was cautiously optimistic. This didn’t involve trying not to break things. Nico lunged at Will and the practice started. 

In less than a minute, Will de-armed Nico. Literally. He looked more annoyed than worried. 

Nico looked at his bone hand on the ground, still gripping the sword. “Well fuck. I didn’t think of that.”

“Can you fix it?” Will tried to pry Nico’s fingers from off the sword handle. 

Nico focused on keeping the sword in his hand. It seemed like a good exercise in control. “Fuck if I know.” He nudged Will out of the way and picked up his hand. He pressed bone to bone and summoned the shadows. Who knew if this would even work; but it was worth a shot. Otherwise they’d have to superglue him back together or something. When he dispersed the darkness, Nico’s wrist was reattached. Nico uncurled his fingers and the sword fell to the ground. “Looks like I’m good.”

“Great,” Will said. “Let’s try again.” 

In the end, Will kicked Nico’s ass. It was ridiculous that the loss of flesh made him so incompetent. At the end, Nico was hot and annoyed. He was tired of being around Will and he didn’t care for the small crowd of teenagers that had gathered to stare at Nico. As soon as Will said that they were done for the day, Nico sank into the shadows. 

He stepped out in the Hades cabin. Since the Big Three still weren’t having any children, it was Nico’s cabin alone and it was where he kept most of his clothes. Nico pulled on his bomber jacket and wanted to tell Will to shove it because at least Nico could get dressed by himself; even if it wasn’t quite as quick as usual. Now that he felt better, Nico went in search of Percy. Finding Percy was easy because Nico was always aware of where Percy’s soul was and because Percy tended to be found near a body of water. 

Percy looked over at Nico and smiled at him when Nico stepped out of the shadows. “Hey, handsome.”

Nico smiled back. “Hey yourself.” He kicked off his shoes and joined Percy in the water. A thin layer of ice formed on the water around his ankles. Nico sighed. 

Percy couldn’t melt ice but he did wave it away so that he could stand beside Nico and kiss him. “How’d it go with Will?”

“I think Apollo should have less musicians and archers and get on having another healer so that I don’t have to go see my ex boyfriend every time I get hurt.” Nico rubbed his cheek against Percy’s. He liked the scrape of stubble against his skin. “He wants me to do physical therapy.”

Percy hummed happily. He took both of Nico’s hands in his. “It’s a good idea.” 

Nico looked between them. It was strange that even without flesh, his fingers slotted perfectly between Percy’s. “This doesn’t freak you out, does it?”

“Nico,” Percy’s tone drew Nico’s eyes upwards. “I _am_ used to bones, what with the son of Hades being my boyfriend. I’m even used to bones _moving._ ” His sea glass green eyes fluttered with amusement. 

Nico pulled his cheek between his teeth. “But you don’t have to touch those bones.” One would think that the six years they’d spent together would alleviate Nico of the fears that Percy would run off on him but Nico would only believe that their love was forever after forever passed. He thought that it was the mortal side of him that worried about this. 

Percy lifted Nico’s bone hand up and kissed the knuckles. “It’s different and a little strange but I’m no less attracted to you.” Still holding Nico’s hand, Percy leaned in for another kiss. It was slow and lingering. “I love you forever, Nico Di Angelo. In sickness, in health, and everything in between.” 

Nico’s face warmed. His heart filled with love for the man before him. “That’s….” Nico kissed Percy again. He didn’t even have the words to explain his feelings. 

Percy wrapped an arm around Nico’s waist to draw him close. “Hey, Nico,” Percy said between kisses. “will you,” Another kiss. “marry me?” 

For a moment, Nico thought that he would die because how could one person fit so many feelings? “Yes!” He threw both arms around Percy’s neck and kissed him hard. 

“Yes?” Percy echoed. He grinned. 

“Yes!” Nico said again. 

Percy picked him up and spun him around. When he set Nico down, he held out his hand. The lake delivered a small, ornate box into Percy’s hand. It was decorated with triangle-shaped teeth and delicate bones.

Nico cocked his head in question. 

“They’re orca teeth and lionfish spines. Ethically sourced.” Percy opened the box and pulled out a ring. The ring was made of a dark gray metal and set with opals that shimmered red and purple. 

The metal called out to Nico even before Percy slipped it on his finger. “What is this made of?” 

“Bone steel and dragon’s breath opals.” Percy answered as he slid the ring onto Nico’s finger. He looked relieved once he saw that it fit. 

Nico laughed, happy and a little breathless. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” He held out his hand and smiled down at the glistening ring. “I love you, Percy Jackson.” Except there was one thing that was bothering him. From the bomber jacket pocket, he pulled out a box made of gold veined black marble. “So you beat me to it, but will you marry me?” 

The moment Percy saw the box, his lips curled up in a smile. He took the box from Nico and opened it. The ring’s band was sea glass that matched the color of Percy’s eyes and set into it were three of the smallest, most perfect black pearls. It had taken forever to find the perfect pearls. “Gods, of course I’ll marry you,” Percy breathed. 

Nico slipped the ring onto Percy’s finger. It was delicate, more for show than for function, and Nico was privately relieved that his bone hand didn’t crush it. 

“It’s beautiful, Nico. I love you.” Percy nuzzled Nico. His face was happily flushed and his smile hadn’t faded in the slightest. “Just so you know, I’m with Will on you doing physical therapy. You aren’t getting out of it just because we’ve got a wedding to plan.” 

Nico sighed but he was too happy to be truly upset. He clung to Percy. It was just them in the lake, waves lapping gently at the shore and the distant sounds of campers. They held each other and basked in the new turn their relationship was taking. Then Nico asked, “So how do demigods get married?” 

Percy’s blank expression was not encouraging but he had the decency to look sheepish. “I’m not sure if it’s different from regular people. We could ask Chiron.”

“I think we should.” Nico poked Percy’s side. “Or _you_ should ask him and _I’ll_ do physical therapy.” 

Percy swatted away Nico’s hand. He kissed Nico’s hair. “Okay, okay. I get it. Should have planned things out better.” Percy gave Nico a fond smile. “I was just so excited to ask you and then we had to fight that monster and your arm got…damaged.” 

Nico reached up and kissed Percy’s jaw. “That’s what I love about you. Always downplaying how fucked over we are.”

Percy rubbed his cheek against Nico’s cheek. He held Nico’s skeleton hand with his, lacing their fingers together. “We are so fucked. But I met you and that makes it worth it, you know?” 

Nico gazed down at their clasped hands. It would take time to truly get used to his flesh-striped arm but he was lucky that his powers allowed for a built-in prosthetic. He was also lucky that Will was willing to work with him to improve his dexterity and that Percy would be here to support him every step of the way. “Yeah,” Nico said with a smile. “You’re worth all the trouble.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted an excuse to write Nico with a skeleton hand since his powers means he should be able to control it...then it dissolved into a dual marriage proposal. I don't know what happened but I regret nothing. Except for how lazy I got combining animals to make some new hybrid monster because I didn't want to google the different Greek monsters that also happen to have flesh-eating blood. I thought: what combination of animals would scare the shit out of me and the answer is apes, pigs, and scorpions.


End file.
